The Development of the Armourers' Crafts and the Forging of Fourteenth-century London Brad Kir

303 Pages·2015·7.44 MB·English

“Now thrive the Armourers”: The Development of the Armourers’ Crafts and the
Forging of Fourteenth-century London

Brad Kirkland

PhD

University of York
Medieval Studies
June, 2015
2

Abstract
This thesis ultimately seeks to understand how and why the London armourers
came to be so closely associated with the politics and uprisings of London’s controversial
mayor, John Northampton (1381-1383). However, because the armourers were not
incorporated as a combined guild until 1453, this thesis must first analyse how the
armourers developed as an industry, and how their workshop, household, and socio-
industrial networks and organisations developed and helped to inform their political
identities. This is the first time that the fourteenth-century London armourers have been
rigorously examined as a collective of constituent specialist industries, and this thesis
contributes to an understanding of how late medieval small crafts developed outside of
guilds.
Through examining armourers’ workshops, households, and socio-industrial
networks, this thesis arrives at several important conclusions about the nature of the
English industry in the fourteenth century which challenge existing scholarship. It finds
evidence to explode scholarly myths that English armour was cheap and poorly made
through lack of skill, that women did not participate in the industry, and that regulation of
the industry was entirely imposed from outside. Finally, this study shows that the
armourers were the most significant participants in the 1384 Mayoralty Riots because their
workshop, household, and socio-industrial networks had all contributed to the development
of a shared political identity, because Northampton’s opponent Nicholas Brembre attacked
that identity, and because the Crown and City’s draconian policies towards the local
armour market had grown increasingly severe prior to the riots. This thesis argues that the
armourers’ political identity developed as an extension of their workshop, household, and
socioindustrial identities and networks, and that each of these contributed to their overall
organisational development outside of a guild structure.
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Table of Contents

Abstract 2
Table of Contents 3
List of Figures 5
Acknowledgements 8
Author’s Declaration 9

Chapter 1: Introduction, Research Questions, and Methodologies 10
1.0: Introduction and Research Questions 10
1.1: Previous Scholarly Works 25
1.2: Primary Sources and Methodology 36
1.2.1: The Methodology of the Fourteenth-century Armourers’ Survey:
Nominal Record Linkage and the Identification of Armourers Using
Occupational Surnames 44
1.2.2: The Methodology of the Fourteenth-century Armourers’ Survey:
Nominal Record Linkage and Armourers’ Direct Identification 50

Chapter 2: Busy Hammers, Needles, Nailtools, and Grinding Stones: The
Fourteenth Century Armourers’ Crafts 55
2.0: Occupational Specialisation, Economic Mosaics, and the Sources and
Theories Used to Interpret the Armourers’ Crafts 55
2.1: The Armourers’ Ordinances of 1322: The Early Division Between Artisans
and Retailers Among the Armourers 63
2.2: The Production and Retail Activities of London’s Soft-Armourers 69
2.3: The Workshops, Production Activities, and Industrial Growth of the
Heaumers and Plate Armourers 73
2.4: The Small Crafts: Furbishers, Kissers, and Haubergers 83
2.4.1: Furbishers 85
2.4.2: Kissers 88
2.4.3: Haubergers 90
2.5: Evidence of Multiple Specialisms Practised by Individual Armourers 96
2.5.1: “Dole enduring night and day”: Evidence of Multiple Specialisms
Practised within Armourers’ Workshops 100
2.6: Conclusions 110

Chapter 3: The Armourers’ Households 113
3.0: The Household Economy 113
3.1: The Presence of Women in the Armourers’ Household Economies 115
3.2: Armourers’ Daughters: Experiences, Roles, and Contributions within the
Household Economies of the Armourers’ Networks 121
3.3: Marriage, Remarriage, and Widowhood: The Work and Contributions of
Wives to the Household Economy and Networks of the Armourers 128
3.4: The Contributions, Roles, and Experiences of Apprentices, Journeymen, and
Servants in the Household Economy 147
3.5: Conclusions 155
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Chapter 4: The Social and Industrial Organisations of the Armourers 157
4.0: The Development of the Armourers’ Mistery, Fraternities, and Guild 157
4.0.1: The Question of Imposed or Self-Directed Structures of Power
and Socio-industrial Organisation 159
4.1: Civic and Multi-Industrial Oversight and Organisation: 1300-1347 165
4.2: Social Developments 1347-1453: The Developments of the Metal
Armourers’ Socio-industrial Organisations 173
4.3: Evidence for Voluntary Social Organisation: Crime and Mainprisal 192
4.4: Armourers’ Districts: Proximity and the Development of Voluntary Social
Interaction 197
4.5: Conclusions 204

Chapter 5: The Riots, the Rift, and the (Privy) Wardrobe: The Armourers’
Role in the Mayoralty Riots of 1383-4 206
5.0: Introduction 206
5.1: Bad Relations Between the Crown and the Armourers: A Just Cause for
Revolt? 209
5.2: Food Dearer than Steel: The Effect of Post-Plague Economics on the
Armourers 220
5.3: Inciting to Riot: The Politicisation of the Armourers’ Issues and
Community, 1376-1384 228
5.4: “Ruffians Dance and Leap”: The Armourers’ Crucible in the Riots and Their
Aftermath 236
5.5: Conclusions 252

Chapter 6: Conclusion 256

Appendix 1: Armourers and First Appearance Sources in Figure 1.1: French
Direct Object Usage 267

Appendix 2: Armourers and First Appearance Sources for Figure 1.2:
Armourers Network Self-Identification with Industry Subgroups: 1275-1400 269

Appendix 3: Legend to Parishes in Figure 4.6 276

Appendix 4: Sketch Map of Northampton’s Route through London, February 7th
1384 278

Abbreviations 280

References 282
Manuscripts and Documents 282
Image Sources 282
Published Primary Sources 284
Published Secondary Sources 288
Unpublished Secondary Sources 303
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List of Figures

Figure 1.1: French Occupational Surnames with Definite Article Usage, Organised by
Date of First Appearance.

Figure 1.2: Armourers’ Network Direct-Identification with Industry Subgroups: 1275-
1400.

Figure 2.1: Type 1 Coat of Plates from the Battle of Wisby, 1361. From: "Armour 1." In
Bengt Thordeman et al. Armour from the Battle of Wisby, New Edition. Chivalry
Bookshelf, 2001. Plate 2.

Figure 2.2: Painted effigy of Sir Robert du Bois, c. 1340; Fersfield, St Andrew’s Church.
From: Christopher Gravett. English Medieval Knight 1300-1400. Oxford: Osprey
Publishing, 2002: 24.

Figure 2.3: Flemish soldier wearing a leather coat of plates. National Library of the
Netherlands, KA 16 Der Naturen Bloeme, 48v., c. 1350.
http://manuscriptminiatures.com/4508/7235/ (accessed June 14, 2015).

Figure 2.4: Basinet, Probably from the 14th Century found at Pevensey, Sussex. Royal
Armouries IV.444. From: Christopher Gravett, English Medieval Knight, 26.

Figure 2.5: “The Great Folk Fight Each Other; The Commoners Fight Each Other.”
Holkham Bible, British Library Additional MS 47682 f.40r, c. 1337-1340. From: The
Holkham Picture Bible: A Facsimile. Translated by Michelle Brown. London: The British
Library, 2007. Plate 40.

Figure 2.6: Armourer Making a Hauberk. MS Amb 3172. Stradtbibliothek, Nuremburg,
Germany. Fifteenth Century. http://www.bridgemanimages.com/fr/asset/151585/german-
school-15th-century/ms-amb-3172-armourer-making-a-hauberk-pen-ink-on-paper
(accessed June 14, 2015).

Figure 2.7: Dietmar von Aist Shows Purses and Belts. Manesse Codex, Zurich, Heidelberg
Universitatsbibliothek, Cod. Pal. Germ. 848, fol. 64r., c. 1300-1320. http://digi.ub.uni-
heidelberg.de/diglit/cpg848/0520/scroll?sid=566b6174e7d15184c55d48955e5503cb
(accessed June 14, 2015).

Figure 2.8: The Rape of Dinah in the Egerton Genesis. London, British Library, Egerton
MS 1894, fol. 17r., c. 1360.
http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=egerton_ms_1894_fs001r (accessed June
14, 2015).

Figure 2.9: Armourers at Work. British Museum Royal MS. 16 G. V, f.11. French, c. 15th
Century.
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http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=mid&IllID=43
027 (accessed June 14, 2015).

Figure 2.10: Bladesmith, Heaumers, and Hauberger. Trinity College, Cambridge, MS
0.9.34, f.24. English, c. 1250. From: Christopher Gravett, English Medieval Knight 1300-
1400. Oxford: Ospery Publishing, 2002. 29.

Figure 3.1: Smith Wife Forging Nails. Queen Mary’s Psalter, British Library, Royal 2 B
VII, f.252.v, London, c. 1310-1320.
http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=royal_ms_2_b_vii_f001r (accessed June
14, 2015).

Figure 3.2: Smith Wife Forging Nails. Holkham Bible, British Library Additional MS
47682 f.31, c. 1337-1340. From: The Holkham Picture Bible: A Facsimile. Translated by
Michelle Brown. London: The British Library, 2007. Plate 31.

Figure 4.1: 1322 Armourers’ Ordinances, London Metropolitan Archives
COL/AD/01/005, fol. cxxxiii a. Personal Image

Figure 4.2: 1322 Armourers’ Ordinances, London Metropolitan Archives,
COL/AD/01/005, fol. cxxxiii b. Personal Image.

Figure 4.3: Occupations of Assenters and Overseers of 1322 Armourers’ Ordinances,
Omitting Armourers of Unknown Specialisms.

Figure 4.4: 1347 Distribution of Occupations of Highway Overseers.

Figure 4.5: Purchase of the Hall in Coleman Street by Ten Armourers (December 7th,
1428). London Guildhall Library: CLC/L/AB/G/031/MS12121/17. Personal Image.

Figure 4.6: Map of London Showing Parishes (c. 1400) Containing Armourers’ Properties,
Organised by Number of Armourers’ Households Associated with the Parish.

Figure 5.1: Arrest and Mainprisal Records for the October 13th 1384 Mayoralty Riots and
Aftermath by Participants’ Occupations.

Figure 5.2: Frequency of Records Prohibiting the Export of Armour, Organised by
Decade.

Figure 5.3: A Mob of Maillotin Rioters Use Heavy Hammers against City Officials.
Besançon Bibliotheque Municipale MS 677 f. 113, c. 1384-1400.
http://www.enluminures.culture.fr/documentation/enlumine/fr/BM/besancon_122-05.htm
(accessed June 14, 2015).
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Figure 5.4: Petition of the armourers against Nicholas Brembre. London, The National
Archives, SC 8/21/1005, c.1387.
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C9061165 (accessed June 13, 2015).

Figure 5.5: Mainprisal Records: Election Day Riots, 1384.

Figure 5.6: Election Day 1384 Riot Mainpernors’ and Sureties, Organised by
Mainpernors’ Mistery.

Figure 5.7: Election Day 1384 Riot Total Mainprisal Liability by Mistery (Assuming
Equal Distribution of Liability between Each Mainpernor).
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Acknowledgements
This thesis represents five years of research, and could not have been accomplished
without the support of many individuals. I am very grateful to my parents and to Professor
Anne Higgins, who supported me and helped me uproot my life to travel over 7,000
kilometres to pursue this work; and to my brother Michael, Andrew Norris, Greg Field,
and James and Sally Wright who all kept me grounded (and occasionally fed). I am further
thankful to Deborah MacKenzie, who pushed me to continue and provided me with the
means to do so; to the Canadian Women’s Club of London, the Maple Leaf Trust, and the
University of York who all generously provided funding towards my research; to Professor
Linne Mooney who first introduced me to the fascinating politics of late-fourteenth-
century London and patiently advised me for the past six years; to Dr Sarah Rees-Jones,
who advised me and helped me to uncover and contextualise the fourteenth-century
records of the armourers; to the late Claude Blair, whose passion for the subject inspired
me, and whose family so generously shared his notes with me; and to my girlfriend Aimee
Richmond, who has been patient and supportive. There are many others who supported me
throughout this work, and I am grateful to them all.
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Author’s Declaration
This thesis consists of entirely new research, although it must be stated that some
aspects of Chapter 5 represent further work that developed out of my 2010 MA dissertation
at the University of York, entitled “The Life Records of John Northampton”. In that work,
I determined the variety of industries that were present at the October 1384 London
Mayoralty Riots, and mapped the route described by Ruth Bird and George Unwin that
John Northampton’s mob took in the February 1384 London Mayoralty Riots (copied with
additions in Appendix 4).1 This thesis has not previously been presented for an award at
this, or any other, University. All sources are acknowledged as References.

1 Ruth Bird, The Turbulent London of Richard II (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1949) 83; George
Unwin, The Gilds and Companies of London (London: Methuen & Co., 1908) 150-51.
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Chapter 1: Introduction, Research Questions, and Methodologies
1.0: Introduction and Research Questions
This study began out of questions that arose in my Masters dissertation, which
examined the life records of John Northampton and his role in the London Mayoralty Riots
following his third-term mayoral election loss to Sir Nicholas Brembre in 1383.2 While
investigating the circumstances of those riots, I discovered that armourers represented
twenty-two percent of the rioters arrested for protesting Brembre’s re-election in October,
1384.3 Central to the political conflicts between Northampton and Brembre were questions
of how London’s government would be elected, the rights of craftsmen and merchants, and
who was eligible to stand for civic office. Unrest over those issues continued long
afterwards: even as late as 1391, the mayor of London was so concerned that more rioting
might erupt that he ordered that anyone who spoke publically about Northampton or
Brembre was to be imprisoned for a year and a day.4 These riots and their causes are
important to understanding the urban politics of late medieval London, but they have
traditionally been examined primarily by scholars focussed on the agendas of wealthy,
politically active groups.5 In the fourteenth century, the armourers were a relatively small
industrial body with almost no political power when compared with London’s more
powerful, and well-established mercantile industries.6 Armourers furthermore lacked the
centralising social structure of a guild in the fourteenth century, and even their wealthiest
members possessed a mere fraction of the wealth and resources that characterised most of

2 Brad Kirkland, “The Life Records of John Northampton” (MA Diss., University of York, 2010).
3 Figure 5.1
4 Mem, 526-27.
5 This debate is examined in Section 5.2. See: Unwin, Gilds, 37-42, 127-54; Bird, Turbulent London, 14-15,
55-79; Pamela Nightingale, “Capitalists, Crafts and Constitutional Change in Late Fourteenth-century
London”, Past and Present 124.1 (1989): 3-35; Pamela Nightingale, A Medieval Mercantile Community: The
Grocers’ Company and the Politics and Trade of London, 1000-1485 (New Haven, Conn., and London: Yale
University Press, 1995), 263-91; Frank Rexroth, Deviance and Power in Late Medieval London, trans.,
Pamela Selwyn (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 114-144.
6 In later studies, these industries are often called the “Great Twelve.” The concept originates from the order
of precedence given to the wealthiest and most powerful livery companies in 1516. However, George Unwin
argued that the concept of greater and lesser industries existed in the fourteenth century in the form of the
wealthiest and most powerful “chief misteries” summoned in 1351 to form the Common Council (consisting
of the Grocers, Mercers, Fishmongers, Drapers, Goldsmiths, Woolmongers, Vintners, Skinners, Saddlers,
Tailors, Cordwainers, Butchers, and Ironmongers). See: LBL, xli-xlii; Unwin, Gilds, 76-77.